I feel your pain, but I wouldn't call a manager who doesn't ask his technical staff for guidance on technical purchasing decisions a "non-technical manager" -- I would call that person a "bad manager."

Agree completely. As I said before:

Some of the very best managers I've worked with have been completely non-technical. Some of the very worst managers I've worked with have been ex-techies.

In my experience the divide between good and bad management has very little to do with technical experience, and a lot to do with being able to trust people to do their job well and remove the things that stop them doing it.

In reply to Re^2: IT Management, outsourcing & technical skills by adrianh
in thread IT Management, outsourcing & technical skills by g0n

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